Audio42

We are great fans of the Naim SBL, now replaced by the SL2. This speaker is uncommonly well designed, and capable of outstanding music reproduction.

But as one of our customers put it about SBls using our crossovers

"Any one with Naim SBLs should hear these they are terrific."

So read on and unleash the true potential...

The SBL appears as a standard two way floorstanding speaker. However the brilliance of this speaker lies in the design of cabinets and stands. Even today few speakers can match the completeness of this design which integrates drivers, cabinets and stands together.

By separating the cabinet into three separate boxes supported by the integral stand the SBL provides a very high level of isolation for its drivers. The division of the bass box into two separate enclosures joined only by an acoustic window provides a brilliant solution to the dilemma of the quest for driver speed (usually a smaller box) and bass (usually a bigger box).

This total system is as rare as it is expensive to manufacture. To hear a set of active SBLs shows the potential, it also points to the one significant weakness of the SBL...

The passive crossover, which offers two clear areas for improvement

1) Component quality. The standard SBL crossover contains surprisingly mudane quality components. These are hidden from view in the small plastic box screwed to the back of the cabinet. Upgrading these components hugely improves the sound quality.

2) Component Values. Modern computing power and modelling software allows the mathematical optimums for the component vales to be more accurately calculated than was possible in the days when the SBL was designed. The standard SBL crossover values are, on average, 10% away from the computer modelled optimums. We have spent a year refining the component values to produce a more integrated sound.

The high value component crossover can brings this speaker's potential to life without the cost and complexity of active systems, and comfortably ahead of the new SL2. This is not surprising; the SL2 crossover has inherited exactly the same values as the SBL.

Physics dictates that high quality crossover components are large. So our crossovers are housed in a box that measures 430mm x 410mm x 130mm. The box is all aluminium, and has it's own isolating properties.